Arrangement of the Week

If you follow game music remixes at all, you’re no doubt familiar with the acapella game music arrangements from artist Smooth McGroove. He’s covered Mega Man, Super Mario, Undertale, Final Fantasy, and many more of our favorite game soundtracks. Last year a group of ten music artists collaborated to create a remix album of some of Smooth’s game arrangements, titled Smooth McGrove Remixed. Yes, it’s game arrangements of game arrangements. Cue the Inception music!

While all of the tracks on this album are worth a listen, I’ll be highlighting the track that put the collection on my radar in the first place. This particular remix comes from Ben Briggs who adapted Smooth McGroove’s cover of the “Super Mario Bros. 2 Overworld Theme.”

While this is a remix by Ben Briggs, McGroove’s vocal performances remain the focal point for a majority of the track. The source tune itself was already upbeat and energetic, but the combination of McGroove’s interpretation and the chiptune sounds and drum beats from Briggs brings up that energy even more. There are some other fun sonic touches like the use of the New Super Mario Bros. vocal pads and Mario voice clips that add to the charm as well.

Ben Briggs brings in some melodic musings of his own to the remix, including references to other Mario games like Paper Mario and the original Super Mario Brothers. As the track progresses the synth instruments start to take over more of the remix, with some instances of the original vocals dropping out completely. It’s a fun mashup of styles and this remix along with the others on the Smooth McGroove Remixed album are worth checking out if you haven’t already.

You can check out the full Smooth McGroove Remixed album on the GameChops page and you can of course find Smooth McGroove’s own acappella arrangements on his YouTube channel and on Loudr. Additionally, you can find more remixes from Ben Briggs on his Bandcamp page.

I’ll be taking over the Arrangement of the Week segment for this week, and it’s apt timing. Recently in my random arrangement-diving that happens every so often when I’ve had a nice glass of whiskey and some free time, I came afoul a track from Samuel “Shnabubula” Ascher-Weiss that I’d never heard before. I certainly wasn’t looking for his material, but rather searching out any rare gems from my beloved Castlevania series.

Shnabubula’s 2003 arrangement “Mucho Dollar Care a Junk CIA” comes from Akumajou Dracula for the Sharp X68000, much better known in North America as Castlevania Chronicles re-released for the Playstation and one of the more obscure of the series titles. Here, the track in question is one of my favorites of that game in particular; the dungeon theme “Etude for the Killer”, which is an odd track to begin with that I can only possibly describe best as ‘cheerfully creepy’.

The arrangement takes an already odd tune and turns it on it’s head, but in a tasteful way. Piano, acoustic guitar and woodwinds construct a melody that softens the unnerving undertones of the original tune and bring it to a more playful tone while still sticking to the source music. The result is an interesting piece that flows well, and while not particularly dynamic, still exhibits a lot of personality apart from that which was already very unique from “Etude for the Killer”. I can appreciate that Shnab took the time to give the track a bit of attention with his own flair, even if it might not be for everyone.

All of the pieces that we’ve featured on Arrangement of the Week have been based on music from games on either consoles, handheld, or personal computers. However, we’ve yet to have any covers of music from mobile games. That changes today with an arrangement of Jimmy “Big Giant Circles” Hinson’s music from the mobile puzzle game Threes.

The artist for this arrangement is timaeus222 who has created an electronic remix of the Threes main theme, “Threes Is the Bees Knees,” titled “Threes ‘Reactive’.”

The remix keeps the light and upbeat tone of the original track and transforms it into a short but sweet electronic funk dance track. There’s plenty of great FM synth sounds, but there’s a nice dose of acoustic sounding guitar instruments to balance things out. The mix never sounds dense or overwhelming and it maintains a light feel even when the heavier synth elements come in.

The tone of the track shifts often thanks to the wide variety of synth instruments that take the spotlight throughout the piece’s duration. There’s plenty of synth lead instruments that get the melody, so you never find yourself getting board of hearing any particular instrument in the remix. All in all, it’s a great tribute to a soundtrack that doesn’t get enough of the attention that it deserves.

Have any favorite remixes, arrangements, or covers? Feel free to tell us about them in the comment section. You can check out “Threes ‘Reactive’” at OC ReMix.

One of my favorite game soundtracks from the Super Nintendo era is Super Metroid. While it may not have the catchy melodies of some of its peers of that day, it builds a great atmosphere for the game that’s hard to forget. For this week’s Arrangement of the Week, I found a rock cover of Super Metroid’s music that strays far from the tone of the original material.

“Dancing in the Jungle” is a rock interpretation of the “Brinstar Plant Overgrowth” track by artist Cyril the Wolf, aka Connor Pelkey. I think you’ll find he’s done something quite interesting with the Super Metroid material.

While creating a rock version of this particular track is nothing new, the lighter tone for this arrangement is something that caught me by surprise. Cyril the Wolf has created a 70s style rock cover of the music, which results in a much brighter and upbeat version of the music. Usually cover artists create something that matches the dark atmosphere of the game, but this arrangement takes the road less travelled and it stands out as a result.

The piece has an almost disco genre feel, with it’s steady drum beats and lively bass line. I particularly like the inclusion of the organ throughout the track. There’s enough variation in the guitar parts as well to keep the listener’s interest and the the arrangement is just the right length to be enjoyable without overstaying its welcome. It’s another excellent cover of one of my favorite game soundtracks.

Have any favorite Super Metroid covers, remixes, or arrangements? Feel free to share them with us in the comment section. You can check out “Dancing in the Jungle” at OC ReMix.

Many of the acoustic arrangements that get coverage on Arrangement of the Week fall into the classical/orchestral genre of music. However, I do come across acoustic jazz covers that, while not as common, bring a welcome breath of fresh air to the usual collection of acoustic game music arrangements out there.

For this week, we have another piece from artist Nostalvania titled “Seven Pipes to Heaven,” a reference to a Miles Davis jazz standard “Seven Steps to Heaven.” The track is a jazz trio arrangement of two pieces, “Birabuto Kingdom” and “Muda Kingdom,” from Super Mario Land by composer Hirokazu Tanaka.

Nostalvania’s arrangement starts and ends with material from the game’s first level Birabuto Kingdom, while keeping the Muda Kingdom material in the middle. Despite altering the meter to 7/8, the melodic material is still quite recognizable. Improvisation sections also act as transitions between the two themes, providing some original material along with the Super Mario Land tunes. The Muda Kingdom music was actually a little harder for me to spot initially because it blends so well with the original improv material.

I like how the arrangement manages to capture the spirit of earlier Miles Davis jazz ensembles, even if the ensemble instruments are different. The material from Super Mario Land fits the genre well and the memorable melodies shine through as a result. The meter change is also a nice touch, creating an uplifting but slightly off-kilter sway to the music. Overall, it’s another wonderful jazz adaptation by Nostalvania of some great game music.

Have any favorite jazz covers of video game tunes. Let us know in the comments. You can check out Nostalvania’s “Seven Pipes to Heaven” on OC ReMix.

There are always tracks that get more attention than others when it comes to game music remixes. There have been a number of covers of the “Sub Castle BGM” from Super Mario World and we’ve covered at least one of them on this series. Today on Arrangement of the Week we will be looking at one of the more interesting versions that I’ve encountered.

This version of the “Sub Caster BGM” comes to us from artist meganeko, who has created a wild and crazy EDM remix titled “Big Boo Badman.”

Meganeko delivers a load of surprises in this track. The piece starts with what sounds like enhanced samples of the original track. But about twenty seconds in, the music launches into a powerful choral chip-rock rendition of the theme. Soon more dance beats enter and before we’ve even hit the one minute mark, the track has transitioned into an upbeat electronic dance track.

The tone, style, and genre is in an almost constant flux. Each new variation and change up feels fresh and exciting but never makes the piece come off as unfocused. One of my favorite parts is the breakdown section at 2’36,” where the piece drops down to a sample from the game again and almost seems to restart the piece. It’s an unexpected and cool interruption that fits in well with the track’s other tricks and surprises. In the end it’s a surprising and fun interpretation of a classic Super Mario World track and it stands out well among many other arrangements.

Have any favorite Super Mario remixes, arrangements, or covers? Feel free to share them with us in the comments section below. You can check out meganeko’s “Big Boo Badman” on OC ReMix.

The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has evolved quite a bit since its emergence in the 90’s. I’m someone who always felt that the jump into 3d platforming was never a good move for the series. Regardless of that view, the one thing I will always say in favor of the Sonic the Hedgehog games is that they always have excellent music. The music of Sonic Adventure had some great pieces in particular, so for today’s Arrangement of the Week we’ll be examining a cover from that soundtrack.

This arrangement covers two tracks, “Bad Taste Aquarium” and “Red Barrage Area,” and features live performances by Peter Fernandes on keys, Richard Hallebeek on guitars, Shane Gaalaas on drums, Ric Fierabracci on bass, and Brett Garsed on guitar solos. The resulting arrangement is “Red Barrage Aquarium.”

The cover has a ton of energy which is helped in part by live performances on every instrument. The contributions from each musician helps build a mix and sound that is greater than the sum of its parts. There’s a good blend of rock, funk, and jazz elements that produces an original sound for the source material, while still sounding like it could easily fit into the areas of Sonic Adventure that the tracks are from.

A big nod has to go to keyboardist Peter Fernandes who also arranged and produced the cover. There’s also some wonderful solo work by Brett Garsed, who gets a good section of solo time starting around 2’19.” Even though the solo goes on for almost two minutes, it never feels out of place with the rest of the track. There’s nothing especially flashy, just a consistently chilled out funk vibe that permeates the whole track. Overall, it’s a great sounding studio arrangement, that featuring some great performances and captures the spirit of the Sonic Adventure games quite well.

Have you heard any good arrangements of music from the Sonic Adventure games? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out more from this group at OC ReMix.

Last night I received a signed copy of the Battletech soundtrack from composer @JonEverist. It is an absolutely stunning release by @blackscreenrec! If you missed my review for the OST you can read it here @OSVgamemusic https://t.co/qSJyXOuFyo